Union members get more time to consider EWEB contract offer.

Byline: Jeff Wright The Register-Guard

Union workers at the Eugene Water & Electric Board will vote on a contract proposal sometime early next week, the lead bargainer for International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 659 said Monday.

The delay will give members time to review a proposal hammered out by union and utility bargaining teams on Sunday, averting a strike that was slated to begin today. The sides have agreed not to disclose the proposal's particulars until the union's 155 members can vote on it.

The union on Sunday withdrew its notice of intent to strike. That means a strike can't occur now until 10 days after a new notice is submitted to EWEB.

Sunday's five-hour session was held at the request of the state Employment Relations Board and facilitated by state mediators Bob Nightingale and Wendy Greenwald.

Union lead bargainer Ron Johnson said he and other union leaders have not decided what recommendation to make to members about the latest contract proposal.

EWEB's elected commissioners met Monday in a nonpublic session to discuss labor negotiations but canceled a public session to discuss strike preparation plans. The commissioners meet today on regular, nonunion business.

EWEB already has implemented its "last and best" offer to union workers that includes wage increases of up to 12.4 percent over the next three years. Outstanding issues include health benefits, Veterans Day as a paid holiday, retroactive pay, bonus hazard pay and overtime pay.

EWEB spokesman Marty Douglass said the contract proposal to be presented to union workers is a "package deal" that addresses all of the outstanding issues. It's inaccurate to characterize the proposal as a tentative agreement, he said.

Douglass said any improvements in health benefits resulting from an agreed-upon new contract would be extended to nonunion employees.